Eagles hang tough before succumbing to Pirates

Milano suffers first loss of the year in see-saw affair

BY MARIE BAKKEN

Reporter Staff Writer

Jaxson Robinson corraled a touchdown pass from Thomas Sanders at the end of the first half to pull the Eagles to within 21-19. Reporter/ Bill Martin
CHILTON—As 25-point underdogs, Milano wasn’t expected to put up much of an effort against a bigger and faster Chilton squad.

Why play?

Because it gave the fiesty Eagles an opportunity to show that size doesn’t always matter.

Although Milano did suffer its first loss of the season Friday to Chilton at Featherston Field, the 42-32 score did bring out some positives.

“We surprised them. We were just a play or two away from being 4-0 and beating a team we weren’t suppose to be on the field with,” Eagles head coach Craig Jentsch said. “Effort has never been a problem in Milano. Those guys came out and played hard.”

The Eagles (3-1) will have one last tune up before district this week as they travel to play Del Valle JV on Thursday.

CHILTON 42, MILANO 32
They hit the road again on Oct. 8 and Oct. 15 as they open up with district at Burton then Holland.

“We’ve got room to get better, but everyone contributed Friday night,” Jentsch said. “We missed some blocking assignments across the field and our kicking game needs improvement. We have to keep working at it. I see of lot of good things and we can get better if the kids are willing to work.”

Milano and Chilton (3-2) traded scores through the first two quarters, with the Pirates able to hold onto a 21-19 lead at halftime, after blocking an Eagle extra point kick and stopping a Milano two-point conversion try.

The Eagles scored twice in the air, with senior quarterback Thomas Sanders hitting both Jordan Melton and Jaxson Robinson for scores. Sanders also scored on a 19 yard run.

Chilton scored their third rushing touchdown of the game three and a half minutes into the third, but Milano would answer again by air mail.

Sanders would hit Alton Bryant for a 25-yard bomb. The twopoint conversion pass attempt that would have brought the Eagles within one failed.

Milano managed its first and only lead of the game with 8:42 remaining on a three yard run by Sanders. The point after kick was good and the Eagles led 32-28. The Pirates drove down the field, tearing up yards and time.

On their only completed pass of the night, Chilton scored from 13 yards out to take the lead again at 35-32 with 4:24 left in the game.

Milano would get the ball and try to score again, but on fourth and long a “Hail Mary” pass to the end zone by Sanders would end in his third interception of the night. Two plays later Chilton would break looose for an 84 yard score, ending the game at 42-32.

During the course of the game, Milano also had two touchdown passes called back, with officials stating that the Eagle receivers’ feet were out of bounds. Chilton’s sidelines and out of bounds markers are painted blue.

The Eagles put up 391 yards against Chilton, something not many area teams can say they’ve done. Milano’s defense allowed 394 yards on Friday, well above the 176 yard average the Eagles had going into Friday’s game.

Milano also passed the ball 22 times on the night—an unusual statistic for the Eagles as they are normally a running team.

“We felt like we had an advantage with our receivers’ height and their ability to catch the ball,” Jentsch said.

Sanders led Milano on the ground with 169 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. He also passed for 196 yards, completing nine of 21 passes, but also picked off three times.

Melton was the Eagles top receiver, having a standout game with five catches for 131 yards and one touchdown.

Sophomore Dominique Messer graded out as Milano’s top defensive player with 15 tackles, one fumble recovery and two forced fumbles.

Senior Mayson Gibbons was also big defensively with 12 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Scouting Del Valle JV

The Eagles’ varsity will travel to play Del Valle’s junior varsity at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Del Valle at 6 p.m. Thursday.